The Cool Down Lap:
Talladega two-step nets Harvick thrilling win
by Alan Ross
The era of the two-car tandem in restrictor-plate races is here.
In one of the best races in NASCAR history, Kevin Harvick worked the two-car draft to perfection Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway in recording his 12th career victory, a pulsating photo finish on the third green-white-checkered ending to the Aaron’s 499.
The race shattered all kinds of records, starting with the third green-white-checkered. Never in Sprint Cup history had any event called for three attempts at winning a race. Okay, so they’ve only had the rule in effect for two years. Accompanying that record, though, was the stunning number of race leaders (29) and lead changes (88)—all Cup records.
The Big One never really happened, but enough smaller versions conspired to produce havoc on the famed 2.66-mile circuit renowned for its crashes as well as its breathtaking, full-throttle racing. But the developing story at Talladega has now become the entrenchment of the two-car draft phenomenon, an almost comical-looking bumper-to-bumper pairing that resembles two bugs in mating season.
The odd coupling debuted last year at Talladega in grand style, eliciting awe and wonder from fans and race commentators alike for its mind-boggling effectiveness. This year, the field wasted no time in getting right to it.
On the opening lap, Kyle Busch, pushed by Jeff Burton, took the lead from pole-sitter Jimmie Johnson. On the third lap, Denny Hamlin partnered with Joey Logano, roaring by the pack like the field was standing still and handing the lead to Logano. Hamlin then got pushed by Dale Earnhardt Jr., one of the afternoon’s hardest workers, to storm to the front. By the end of Lap 10 there had been an astonishing eight lead changes.
The visual effect makes the tandem look like it’s just been shot out of a gun. But though the charging duo tends generally to wax the field by an additional 10 miles per hour and dash out front by about a 100-yard lead, it ends almost as fast as it begins. In every instance the coupled cars tend to pull apart shortly after they’ve dusted the field, the rear or “pushing” car ultimately in danger of burning up its engine for lack of clean air if the two don’t separate. So they uncouple, at which point the pack shortly rejoins the two racehorses or yet another tandem goes roaring by in their place. It’s fun to watch, and in Harvick’s case, it was flawlessly played.
With crashes sabotaging race leader Jamie McMurray’s quest for his third straight restrictor-plate victory during the first two green-white-checkered attempts, Harvick paired with McMurray following the historic third G/W/C restart, giving the two a commanding lead. It appeared McMurray had the win coming off the final corner, but Harvick orchestrated it like a master—waiting, waiting, waiting, then at the last second pulling out on the low side to nip McMurray by 12 one-hundredths of a second.
After seeing that thriller, I found myself wishing that NASCAR would schedule a minimum of one race a month at Talladega and jettison some its cookie-cutter 1.5-mile yawners that rarely produce anything beyond bland racing.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Saturday, May 1, 2010
In the Rain: Texas race ‘Shanghaied’
Rain was the underlying theme Sunday at two of the three major series’ races, with NASCAR of course taking its usual place under an umbrella as rains lingered over Texas Motor Speedway, the Samsung Mobile 500 postponed until Monday. For the second time in the last three Sprint Cup races, rain has forced a Monday race.
But if there’s one racing body that truly knows what to do in the rain, it’s Formula One. In China Sunday for the Chinese Grand Prix, F1 put a soggy foot forward where NASCAR fears to tread, sending 25 cars off the starting grid at Shanghai International Circuit. After a dicey start in which all but the race leaders came in following Lap 1 to change to wets, an unusual leaderboard unfolded. Gone were the Vettels, Webbers, Hamiltons, and Massas, while up front ran Brawn Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg and McLaren’s Jenson Button, who both gambled to remain out on super-soft slicks to maintain track position at Nos. 1 and 2.
The strategy worked. The track stayed dry enough long enough for the pair to pull away in the first 10 laps, before they too opted for the rain-weather intermediates. Later, a bobble by Rosberg enabled Button to take the lead, and the 2009 F1 world champion took it home from there for his second victory of 2010. With the win, Button assumes the top spot in the driver standings, 10 points up on Rosberg, who claimed a podium-finish third place. Button’s McLaren teammate, Lewis Hamilton, making four stops to Button’s two, showed his immense talent in the rain throughout, unlike former “Der Regenmeister” (Rain Master) and seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, now 41, who was passed continually by the sport’s younger drivers on the wet surface. Hamilton finished as race runner-up, only one second behind Button. Schumacher, four races into his ballyhooed comeback, placed 10th.
As the song goes, it never rains in Southern California, so wet weather was never an issue on the sun-blasted downtown streets of Long Beach, Calif., long one of the legendary IndyCar (as well as CART/Champ Car) circuits over the years. The testing road course known as the Grand Prix of Long Beach was the perfect venue Sunday for Ryan Hunter-Reay, a newcomer to the reconfigured Andretti-Green Racing team, now solely under Michael Andretti’s leadership and renamed Andretti AutoSport six months ago.
Penske pole-sitter Will Power took control of the race for the first 17 laps before inadvertently hitting the pit-row speed limiter exiting Turn 11, heading onto the long front straight. The gaffe allowed Hunter-Reay and Justin Wilson, then running second and third, to zoom by Power, with Hunter-Reay never seriously headed after that. The victory was all the more special to Hunter-Reay, who proposed to his future wife at the Long Beach circuit last year. He has one previous IndyCar series win (four total in open wheel, including one each in CART and Champ Car) to his credit. After Wilson became entangled with the rear of a lapped car at the race’s midpoint, dropping him back to third, he executed the pass of the day on Lap 66 of the 85-lap race, displacing Power for second place. Danica Patrick finished 16th.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
But if there’s one racing body that truly knows what to do in the rain, it’s Formula One. In China Sunday for the Chinese Grand Prix, F1 put a soggy foot forward where NASCAR fears to tread, sending 25 cars off the starting grid at Shanghai International Circuit. After a dicey start in which all but the race leaders came in following Lap 1 to change to wets, an unusual leaderboard unfolded. Gone were the Vettels, Webbers, Hamiltons, and Massas, while up front ran Brawn Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg and McLaren’s Jenson Button, who both gambled to remain out on super-soft slicks to maintain track position at Nos. 1 and 2.
The strategy worked. The track stayed dry enough long enough for the pair to pull away in the first 10 laps, before they too opted for the rain-weather intermediates. Later, a bobble by Rosberg enabled Button to take the lead, and the 2009 F1 world champion took it home from there for his second victory of 2010. With the win, Button assumes the top spot in the driver standings, 10 points up on Rosberg, who claimed a podium-finish third place. Button’s McLaren teammate, Lewis Hamilton, making four stops to Button’s two, showed his immense talent in the rain throughout, unlike former “Der Regenmeister” (Rain Master) and seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher, now 41, who was passed continually by the sport’s younger drivers on the wet surface. Hamilton finished as race runner-up, only one second behind Button. Schumacher, four races into his ballyhooed comeback, placed 10th.
As the song goes, it never rains in Southern California, so wet weather was never an issue on the sun-blasted downtown streets of Long Beach, Calif., long one of the legendary IndyCar (as well as CART/Champ Car) circuits over the years. The testing road course known as the Grand Prix of Long Beach was the perfect venue Sunday for Ryan Hunter-Reay, a newcomer to the reconfigured Andretti-Green Racing team, now solely under Michael Andretti’s leadership and renamed Andretti AutoSport six months ago.
Penske pole-sitter Will Power took control of the race for the first 17 laps before inadvertently hitting the pit-row speed limiter exiting Turn 11, heading onto the long front straight. The gaffe allowed Hunter-Reay and Justin Wilson, then running second and third, to zoom by Power, with Hunter-Reay never seriously headed after that. The victory was all the more special to Hunter-Reay, who proposed to his future wife at the Long Beach circuit last year. He has one previous IndyCar series win (four total in open wheel, including one each in CART and Champ Car) to his credit. After Wilson became entangled with the rear of a lapped car at the race’s midpoint, dropping him back to third, he executed the pass of the day on Lap 66 of the 85-lap race, displacing Power for second place. Danica Patrick finished 16th.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
Friday, April 30, 2010
Newman steals win in desert
A backmarker affected the outcome of Saturday night’s NASCAR race, allowing a pretender from nearly out of nowhere to steal a Sprint Cup victory. At the Subway Fresh Fit 600 at Phoenix International Raceway, it was Ryan Newman doing the theft work on the inevitable green-white-checkered ending that has become the de rigeur NASCAR finish to almost every race.
In this instance, the race’s ninth caution wiped out a commanding Kyle Busch lead over Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon with just three laps to go. The yellow flag fell as a result of 28th-place-finishing Scott Riggs’ crash on Lap 372 of the 375-lap affair, ending a 51-lap stretch of green-flag racing that had been Busch’s sole domain after he took the lead from Johnson on the restart following the race’s Caution No. 7, more than 120 laps earlier.
The race order changed when everyone pitted after Riggs hit the wall. Four-tire strategy did not play out well for Busch and Johnson, who deferred off pit row to Gordon and Ryan Newman, both of whom opted for two tires in taking the No. 1 and 2 spots for the restart. When the green flag flew, it was Newman, running fifth at the time of the final caution, who got under Gordon on the inside in Turn One and never looked back. It was the 39 car’s first victory since the 2008 Daytona 500.
Prior to the upheaval of the closing laps, it had looked to be possibly a day for Juan Pablo Montoya, followed by an impressive long stretch by Johnson at the front. Tough-luck Jeff Gordon, who has been beaten for wins in the last two races on green-white-checkered endings, finished second. Johnson and Busch placed third and eighth respectively.
IndyCar: In the inaugural Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, a new venue named after the well-known driving school instructor, race-long leader Marco Andretti had to abdicate the front with just eight laps remaining for a splash of fuel. Looking for his second IndyCar career win, Andretti executed a sensational pass on early race leader Helio Castroneves on Lap 16, then led the next 58 laps of the 90-lap race. But Andretti’s crew chief’s fuel strategy ultimately left Mario’s grandson on fumes at race’s end. Castroneves then drove on for the win, having stayed out longer than Andretti each time before pitting. The difference in fuel consumption was all Helio needed to claim his 17th career IndyCar series race and first since Texas last year. The victory also enabled him to tie Dario Franchitti and Tommy Milton, the 1921 Indy car champion, for most all-time open-wheel racing victories, with 23. Castroneves cited turbulence as a critical factor in lessening passing opportunities, which was why Andretti’s pass of the effervescent Brazilian for the early race lead was a work of beauty.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
In this instance, the race’s ninth caution wiped out a commanding Kyle Busch lead over Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon with just three laps to go. The yellow flag fell as a result of 28th-place-finishing Scott Riggs’ crash on Lap 372 of the 375-lap affair, ending a 51-lap stretch of green-flag racing that had been Busch’s sole domain after he took the lead from Johnson on the restart following the race’s Caution No. 7, more than 120 laps earlier.
The race order changed when everyone pitted after Riggs hit the wall. Four-tire strategy did not play out well for Busch and Johnson, who deferred off pit row to Gordon and Ryan Newman, both of whom opted for two tires in taking the No. 1 and 2 spots for the restart. When the green flag flew, it was Newman, running fifth at the time of the final caution, who got under Gordon on the inside in Turn One and never looked back. It was the 39 car’s first victory since the 2008 Daytona 500.
Prior to the upheaval of the closing laps, it had looked to be possibly a day for Juan Pablo Montoya, followed by an impressive long stretch by Johnson at the front. Tough-luck Jeff Gordon, who has been beaten for wins in the last two races on green-white-checkered endings, finished second. Johnson and Busch placed third and eighth respectively.
IndyCar: In the inaugural Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, a new venue named after the well-known driving school instructor, race-long leader Marco Andretti had to abdicate the front with just eight laps remaining for a splash of fuel. Looking for his second IndyCar career win, Andretti executed a sensational pass on early race leader Helio Castroneves on Lap 16, then led the next 58 laps of the 90-lap race. But Andretti’s crew chief’s fuel strategy ultimately left Mario’s grandson on fumes at race’s end. Castroneves then drove on for the win, having stayed out longer than Andretti each time before pitting. The difference in fuel consumption was all Helio needed to claim his 17th career IndyCar series race and first since Texas last year. The victory also enabled him to tie Dario Franchitti and Tommy Milton, the 1921 Indy car champion, for most all-time open-wheel racing victories, with 23. Castroneves cited turbulence as a critical factor in lessening passing opportunities, which was why Andretti’s pass of the effervescent Brazilian for the early race lead was a work of beauty.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Pitbox Mayhem or How A.J.’s Rear Panel Wound Up on My Front Bumper
During the 2010 Shelby American at Las Vegas Motor Speedway back on Feb. 28, Greg Biffle, exiting his pitbox, had to back up to get around the protruding rear of A.J. Allmendinger’s 43 car, which had just nose-dived into the box ahead of Biffle’s.
But Allmendinger, like dozens of cars before him in any number of races you care to examine, failed to enter his space in a traditionally clean manner, squared to the box. Biffle’s resulting backup cost him precious seconds reentering the fray and indicates a problem that seems to be patently ignored by NASCAR officials. Most of the cautions that occur during the course of a race tend to bring the majority of the pack down pit lane at the same time. That’s akin to a downtown Atlanta traffic jam at the peak of rush hour.
There is a solution to all this pitbox mayhem, albeit NASCAR’s brain trust would have to—pardon the pun—think outside the box. One might suppose that a favorable resolution would be to simply lengthen the pitboxes. But as is the case with most tracks, there just isn’t enough room on the interior of the track to lengthen them more than they already are, unless you put pit lanes on both sides of the track and divide the total number of pitboxes between them. Again, not very practical with the current layouts of most of the circuits.
The solution? Cut that 43-car field! I’ve long advocated such a measure for other reasons, mainly the logjam of perennial backmarkers created by a large field, and you know who they are: the Joe Nemecheks, the Dave Blaneys, the Michael Waltrips. How many times in the past two years has Waltrip drawn the first caution or instigated initial contact—usually with the wall—in a race? Got a calculator?
I say get the field down to 35 and leave it there. That would still be a third more than the field of an F1 or an IndyCar race, but at least it would create manageable breathing room—and then you could lengthen the pitboxes on pit lane and eliminate conditions that cause a Greg Biffle to have to go backwards before he can go forward on exit.
F1: It is safe to say after just three races on the F1 calendar that Red Bull Racing/Renault’s young driving prodigy, Sebastian Vettel, is clearly the man to beat for the series’ 2010 driving title. Sunday, Vettel showed his tail feathers to the rest of the field at Kuala Lampur’s Sepang International Circuit, in the Malaysian Grand Prix, the young racer’s first victory of the season, after leading the first two races handily before mechanical breakdowns forced early retirement in both. At Sepang, Vettel out-dueled fellow Red Bull running mate Mark Webber on the first turn and was never headed. But race watchers also got to see a phenomenal charge through the field by McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, who started 20th on the grid after poorly qualifying in the rain the previous day. By just Lap 4, Hamilton had brilliantly moved up to 10th spot but could ultimately get no higher than sixth. Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonzo run 1-2 in the standings.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
But Allmendinger, like dozens of cars before him in any number of races you care to examine, failed to enter his space in a traditionally clean manner, squared to the box. Biffle’s resulting backup cost him precious seconds reentering the fray and indicates a problem that seems to be patently ignored by NASCAR officials. Most of the cautions that occur during the course of a race tend to bring the majority of the pack down pit lane at the same time. That’s akin to a downtown Atlanta traffic jam at the peak of rush hour.
There is a solution to all this pitbox mayhem, albeit NASCAR’s brain trust would have to—pardon the pun—think outside the box. One might suppose that a favorable resolution would be to simply lengthen the pitboxes. But as is the case with most tracks, there just isn’t enough room on the interior of the track to lengthen them more than they already are, unless you put pit lanes on both sides of the track and divide the total number of pitboxes between them. Again, not very practical with the current layouts of most of the circuits.
The solution? Cut that 43-car field! I’ve long advocated such a measure for other reasons, mainly the logjam of perennial backmarkers created by a large field, and you know who they are: the Joe Nemecheks, the Dave Blaneys, the Michael Waltrips. How many times in the past two years has Waltrip drawn the first caution or instigated initial contact—usually with the wall—in a race? Got a calculator?
I say get the field down to 35 and leave it there. That would still be a third more than the field of an F1 or an IndyCar race, but at least it would create manageable breathing room—and then you could lengthen the pitboxes on pit lane and eliminate conditions that cause a Greg Biffle to have to go backwards before he can go forward on exit.
F1: It is safe to say after just three races on the F1 calendar that Red Bull Racing/Renault’s young driving prodigy, Sebastian Vettel, is clearly the man to beat for the series’ 2010 driving title. Sunday, Vettel showed his tail feathers to the rest of the field at Kuala Lampur’s Sepang International Circuit, in the Malaysian Grand Prix, the young racer’s first victory of the season, after leading the first two races handily before mechanical breakdowns forced early retirement in both. At Sepang, Vettel out-dueled fellow Red Bull running mate Mark Webber on the first turn and was never headed. But race watchers also got to see a phenomenal charge through the field by McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, who started 20th on the grid after poorly qualifying in the rain the previous day. By just Lap 4, Hamilton had brilliantly moved up to 10th spot but could ultimately get no higher than sixth. Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonzo run 1-2 in the standings.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Rain plays role in all three series’ races
As a child, I remember there were those kids who would look for cover when it rained. But of course opposites fill our planet too. Conversely, like a two-sided coin, others reveled in the wet stuff, taking off shoes and luxuriating in the same downpour that the less adventurous ran from.
It was in similar fashion that Sunday’s motorsports calendar played out, with NASCAR’s rain-held hostage Sprint Cup drivers dashing for umbrellas at Martinsville, Va., waiting hopefully for a chance to start the Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500, which ultimately was postponed until Monday.
Contrasting that disappointing picture, the F1 boys visiting Albert Park in Melbourne, Australia, for the second leg of the F1 Grand Prix season, happily traded in umbrellas and goulashes for rain tires and a winding wet weather road course in a race that started under rain and finished in the dry. And what a race it was!
For the second race in a row, Red Bull Racing/Renault’s Sebastian Vettel roared off into the distance, dusting the remainder of the field from the get-go. But just as in Bahrain two weeks ago, Vettel’s commanding lead was sabotaged by mechanical failure, this time just under halfway through the race, when front-end brake failure sent him into the gravel traps, ending his day.
But it was the opportunistic Jenson Button, the F1 series’ defending champion, who made a daring strategy call on Lap 7 of the 58-lap affair that dramatically altered the race’s outcome. Languishing in seventh spot after a poor start in the rain, Button radioed in to his crew that he was coming in and wished to switch to slicks. The bold maneuver looked initially foolish when Button careened all over the course on his in-lap, falling way off the pace. But several laps later, the Englishman was turning laps five to six seconds quicker than anyone else, and the copycat effect soon followed: the remainder of the 24-car field all pitted to switch to slicks from the rain tires. Button managed to pass several cars reentering the circuit on cold slicks, improving his position to fourth, and later, to second. When Vettel’s misfortune occurred, Button was in the clear for his and McLaren/Mercedes’ first victory of 2010.
Sunday’s third race, in IndyCar, was to be run on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., on a cool track layout that included parts of an old airfield. On this day, IndyCar played the role of the kid who was on the fence about coming out to play in the rain: sort of “should we or shouldn’t we?” The series prides itself on running in the rain, as it did partially two weeks ago in its season debut at Sao Paulo, but as was the case in Brazil, lightning, monsoon-like thunderstorms, and ultimately a track awash in deep pools of gathered water postponed the event until Monday. But if attitude counts for anything, the IndyCar “kids” wanted to play in the rain, if they'd had their druthers. Said driver Marco Andretti during the delay before postponement was announced: “I think we’re getting too soft. We should get out there and race!”
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
It was in similar fashion that Sunday’s motorsports calendar played out, with NASCAR’s rain-held hostage Sprint Cup drivers dashing for umbrellas at Martinsville, Va., waiting hopefully for a chance to start the Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500, which ultimately was postponed until Monday.
Contrasting that disappointing picture, the F1 boys visiting Albert Park in Melbourne, Australia, for the second leg of the F1 Grand Prix season, happily traded in umbrellas and goulashes for rain tires and a winding wet weather road course in a race that started under rain and finished in the dry. And what a race it was!
For the second race in a row, Red Bull Racing/Renault’s Sebastian Vettel roared off into the distance, dusting the remainder of the field from the get-go. But just as in Bahrain two weeks ago, Vettel’s commanding lead was sabotaged by mechanical failure, this time just under halfway through the race, when front-end brake failure sent him into the gravel traps, ending his day.
But it was the opportunistic Jenson Button, the F1 series’ defending champion, who made a daring strategy call on Lap 7 of the 58-lap affair that dramatically altered the race’s outcome. Languishing in seventh spot after a poor start in the rain, Button radioed in to his crew that he was coming in and wished to switch to slicks. The bold maneuver looked initially foolish when Button careened all over the course on his in-lap, falling way off the pace. But several laps later, the Englishman was turning laps five to six seconds quicker than anyone else, and the copycat effect soon followed: the remainder of the 24-car field all pitted to switch to slicks from the rain tires. Button managed to pass several cars reentering the circuit on cold slicks, improving his position to fourth, and later, to second. When Vettel’s misfortune occurred, Button was in the clear for his and McLaren/Mercedes’ first victory of 2010.
Sunday’s third race, in IndyCar, was to be run on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., on a cool track layout that included parts of an old airfield. On this day, IndyCar played the role of the kid who was on the fence about coming out to play in the rain: sort of “should we or shouldn’t we?” The series prides itself on running in the rain, as it did partially two weeks ago in its season debut at Sao Paulo, but as was the case in Brazil, lightning, monsoon-like thunderstorms, and ultimately a track awash in deep pools of gathered water postponed the event until Monday. But if attitude counts for anything, the IndyCar “kids” wanted to play in the rain, if they'd had their druthers. Said driver Marco Andretti during the delay before postponement was announced: “I think we’re getting too soft. We should get out there and race!”
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Johnson bests Busch for first Bristol win
Jimmie Johnson attained a couple of milestones Sunday, claiming his 50th career NASCAR Cup victory and first-ever win at east Tennessee’s Thunder Valley, the tight pint-sized half-mile oval know as Bristol Motor Speedway.
In truth, Johnson’s car was probably the second-best racecar on the track during the twice rain-delayed afternoon, with Kurt Busch dominating much of the race, steaming 278 times around the track ahead of everybody else in the 500-lap Food City 500.
The race turned on the restart following the 10th and final caution of the day. With 10 laps to go, both Johnson and Busch settled in side-by-side in the third row of the double-file restart. Johnson caught the break, as Greg Biffle, restarting first on the outside, got a tremendous start and pulled Tony Stewart and Johnson behind him well past the inside row led by Matt Kenseth. Busch was boxed in, with no place to go. Stewart then ducked down to the inside to pass Biffle and Johnson went with him. Once the 48 car was clear of Biffle, Johnson took off to the outside and blew past Stewart with seven laps remaining. He was never headed.
Busch could only shake his head, as the luck of the draw—which of the two double-file restart lanes would move the best—did not play out for the Penske driver, who would’ve made it two straight victories had he taken the checkered flag, after annexing the race in Atlanta two weeks ago.
ROADSIDE RANTS & RAVES: Race commentators praised the wide-open spaces in the turns that occasionally made for three-wide racing, but in reality Bristol Motor Speedway is still the same old sardine tin, with 43 cars crammed into it. Once, early on, Johnson was neck-and-neck with Busch, when they came upon backmarker Bobby Labonte. With Busch on the inside and Labonte on the outside, Johnson stayed frozen behind the 71 car for four laps before Busch finally produced enough room on the inside for JJ to duck down inside Labonte. The three-wide may briefly look good in the turns, but there simply is no passing room at Bristol if you get caught in traffic. Later on, with 125 laps to go, the same thing happened to Tony Stewart, caught behind the slower-moving tandem of Jeff Burton and Matt Kenseth. Stewart couldn’t move for five laps, as Burton and Kenseth played the equivalent role of two 18-wheelers locking up both lanes of interstate traffic…Mark Martin was racy and had a competitive car until he and Greg Biffle hooked up on Lap 342 with Martin hitting the wall, precipitating a 13-car wreck…The much-talked-about spoiler makes its NASCAR debut this coming Sunday at Martinsville. The 64.5-inch by 4-inch blade replaces the controversial rear wing that has been speculated to be the underlying cause behind the airborne crashes of Carl Edwards at Talladega in 2009 and Brad Keselowski at Atlanta several weeks ago. The new spoiler has already undergone testing at Talladega with another full two-day test scheduled for Charlotte this week.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
In truth, Johnson’s car was probably the second-best racecar on the track during the twice rain-delayed afternoon, with Kurt Busch dominating much of the race, steaming 278 times around the track ahead of everybody else in the 500-lap Food City 500.
The race turned on the restart following the 10th and final caution of the day. With 10 laps to go, both Johnson and Busch settled in side-by-side in the third row of the double-file restart. Johnson caught the break, as Greg Biffle, restarting first on the outside, got a tremendous start and pulled Tony Stewart and Johnson behind him well past the inside row led by Matt Kenseth. Busch was boxed in, with no place to go. Stewart then ducked down to the inside to pass Biffle and Johnson went with him. Once the 48 car was clear of Biffle, Johnson took off to the outside and blew past Stewart with seven laps remaining. He was never headed.
Busch could only shake his head, as the luck of the draw—which of the two double-file restart lanes would move the best—did not play out for the Penske driver, who would’ve made it two straight victories had he taken the checkered flag, after annexing the race in Atlanta two weeks ago.
ROADSIDE RANTS & RAVES: Race commentators praised the wide-open spaces in the turns that occasionally made for three-wide racing, but in reality Bristol Motor Speedway is still the same old sardine tin, with 43 cars crammed into it. Once, early on, Johnson was neck-and-neck with Busch, when they came upon backmarker Bobby Labonte. With Busch on the inside and Labonte on the outside, Johnson stayed frozen behind the 71 car for four laps before Busch finally produced enough room on the inside for JJ to duck down inside Labonte. The three-wide may briefly look good in the turns, but there simply is no passing room at Bristol if you get caught in traffic. Later on, with 125 laps to go, the same thing happened to Tony Stewart, caught behind the slower-moving tandem of Jeff Burton and Matt Kenseth. Stewart couldn’t move for five laps, as Burton and Kenseth played the equivalent role of two 18-wheelers locking up both lanes of interstate traffic…Mark Martin was racy and had a competitive car until he and Greg Biffle hooked up on Lap 342 with Martin hitting the wall, precipitating a 13-car wreck…The much-talked-about spoiler makes its NASCAR debut this coming Sunday at Martinsville. The 64.5-inch by 4-inch blade replaces the controversial rear wing that has been speculated to be the underlying cause behind the airborne crashes of Carl Edwards at Talladega in 2009 and Brad Keselowski at Atlanta several weeks ago. The new spoiler has already undergone testing at Talladega with another full two-day test scheduled for Charlotte this week.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Sponsor enters driver fray; IndyCar opens in Brazil
Everyone’s weighing in on the controversial Carl Edwards-Brad Keselowski conflict and the resultant three-race probation for Edwards. Even Scott’s, Edwards’ primary sponsor, got some licks in, reprimanding its Sprint Cup driver in a heavy-handed way, saying it expected no more such nonsense (i.e.: running a fellow competitor off the track) from Edwards in the future. Particularly interesting was the fact that the edict was directed at Roush Fenway Racing and Edwards rather than at NASCAR.
My take is that NASCAR is getting what it deserves. It mandated a new policy over the off-season that now encourages drivers to basically police themselves with regard to on-track conduct—NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton’s now-infamous “Boys, have at it and have fun” decree. Well, give the boys that kind of unconditional freedom and what do you get? It translates to the old wreck-me-and-I’ll-wreck-you code, a throwback to Biblical times and the eye-for-an-eye principle. So why enact a fine on “the boys,” when you, NASCAR, have given them the right to be their own judge and jury? You’ve stamped your approval on the law of the Old West for your sport, so stay out of the line of fire of the gunslingers!
IndyCar: Sunday’s Sao Paulo Indy 300 had just about everything in its rain-shortened race: a monstrous highlight-reel, first-turn crash that saw Mario Moraes go airborne and land on the top of Marco Andretti, who was unhurt. Then the Brazilian monsoons came, but the IndyCars switched to rain tires and ran! Well, briefly. The race was red-flagged for almost an hour while pooled water was cleared from the track. The race, eventually won by the wonderfully named Will Power, ended with a timed finish, 14 laps shy of the originally scheduled 75. Defending series champion Dario Franchitti finished seventh, Danica Patrick 15th.
F1: The 2010 Formula One Grand Prix season also opened Sunday, in the United Arab Emirates’ Kingdom of Bahrain, with major new changes in its sporting regulations. Foremost among them is no refueling allowed during the entire race, a provision not seen in the sport since 1993. The cars are so delicately designed that carrying more than 300 pounds of fuel onboard the lightweight, 1,300-pound racecars (NASCAR cars weigh 3,400 pounds) was viewed as potentially problematic for the drivers. Pit stops, now for tires only, were going to be quick—3.5 seconds on the average! Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel roared off to a staggering lead over the field, before cracking a header and allowing Ferrari’s Fernando Alonzo and Felipe Massa, plus McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, past him for the three podium spots. F1 legend Michael Schumacher, making a comeback at 41 after a three-year layoff, finished sixth.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
My take is that NASCAR is getting what it deserves. It mandated a new policy over the off-season that now encourages drivers to basically police themselves with regard to on-track conduct—NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton’s now-infamous “Boys, have at it and have fun” decree. Well, give the boys that kind of unconditional freedom and what do you get? It translates to the old wreck-me-and-I’ll-wreck-you code, a throwback to Biblical times and the eye-for-an-eye principle. So why enact a fine on “the boys,” when you, NASCAR, have given them the right to be their own judge and jury? You’ve stamped your approval on the law of the Old West for your sport, so stay out of the line of fire of the gunslingers!
IndyCar: Sunday’s Sao Paulo Indy 300 had just about everything in its rain-shortened race: a monstrous highlight-reel, first-turn crash that saw Mario Moraes go airborne and land on the top of Marco Andretti, who was unhurt. Then the Brazilian monsoons came, but the IndyCars switched to rain tires and ran! Well, briefly. The race was red-flagged for almost an hour while pooled water was cleared from the track. The race, eventually won by the wonderfully named Will Power, ended with a timed finish, 14 laps shy of the originally scheduled 75. Defending series champion Dario Franchitti finished seventh, Danica Patrick 15th.
F1: The 2010 Formula One Grand Prix season also opened Sunday, in the United Arab Emirates’ Kingdom of Bahrain, with major new changes in its sporting regulations. Foremost among them is no refueling allowed during the entire race, a provision not seen in the sport since 1993. The cars are so delicately designed that carrying more than 300 pounds of fuel onboard the lightweight, 1,300-pound racecars (NASCAR cars weigh 3,400 pounds) was viewed as potentially problematic for the drivers. Pit stops, now for tires only, were going to be quick—3.5 seconds on the average! Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel roared off to a staggering lead over the field, before cracking a header and allowing Ferrari’s Fernando Alonzo and Felipe Massa, plus McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton, past him for the three podium spots. F1 legend Michael Schumacher, making a comeback at 41 after a three-year layoff, finished sixth.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
If it's Atlanta, it must be the tires
If it’s Atlanta, it must mean tire issues. Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 500 became a day-long procession to pit row for tire changes, which caused the majority of 10 cautions at 50-year-old Atlanta Motor Speedway Sunday. And as usual, there were track incidents aplenty.
For the second year in a row, Penske’s Kurt Busch stormed Atlanta like Sherman, enduring NASCAR’s race-end gauntlet of two green-white-checkered attempts to win the 325-lap affair that stretched to 341 laps in “overtime” around the 1.5-mile tri-oval.
Most troubled by the constant tire erosion on the abrasive surface were the Hendrick Motorsports cars. Of the HMS fleet, Jimmie Johnson finished highest at 12th, with Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, and Mark Martin faring worse with their respective 15th-, 18th-, and 33rd-place finishes. Besides the strong-running Busch, Juan Pablo Montoya and Kasey Kahne also ran consistently at the front.
The race’s ending deteriorated with a spectacular crash with just two laps to go, when Carl Edwards chose to pay back Brad Keselowski for an earlier-race incident, in which Keselowski punted Edwards into Joey Logano on the outside lane on a restart. Both Edwards and Logano had to exit the track for lengthy repairs. Edwards, known to take no quarter, at the time of his wrecking of Keselowski was 152 laps down. Unfortunately, that incident brought to an end a terrific 25-lap stretch of green-flag racing that had fans on the edges of their seats, with Montoya reeling in Busch to within a half second in what was building to a nail-biter.
ROADSIDE RANTS AND RAVES: Only four races into the 2010 season and Goodyear just couldn’t stay out of the headlines. Of course, whenever you see Goodyear’s name in context with a NASCAR race it’s usually with a negative connotation for its product failure on the track the previous day. The tire giant even tested specifically at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the off-season, but yesterday you could almost see the old track laughing as it chewed up Goodyear’s best offering and spat it out like so much indigestible rubber…FOX’s Darrell Waltrip made a clairvoyant, you-gotta-be-kidding-me projection an instant before it happened Sunday, when he cautioned that David Ragan had better watch out for a cut tire after he had bumped the wall two laps before. A split-second later, almost on cue, Ragan cut a tire and barreled up the track into the wall…This week a news story circulated that Jimmie Johnson’s constant winning was becoming bad for the sport. Industry types surmised that possibly JJ’s winning ways were turning off droves of NASCAR fans. It was refreshing to hear one lone voice—Kyle Petty’s—say phooey to that. Petty believes dominance, if anything, spawns far more interest in racing. “Parity stinks,” he said with conviction. And I for one completely agree. NASCAR admits it has done everything in its power to level the playing field for all cars, yet huge gaps still exist between powerhouses and also-rans. It reminds me of the 1946-49 Cleveland Browns of the All-America Football Conference before that team became a member of the NFL. The Brownies dominated the AAFC all four years of its existence. Detractors screamed that Cleveland was killing the AAFC. In fact, maybe they did. The AAFC closed its doors at the end of the ’49 season, and the Browns took their show over to the big-league NFL in 1950—where they dominated that league for the next six years too!
Dynasties. The ’40s Browns, the ’90s Bulls. Now, JJ and the 48—the New York Yankees of NASCAR.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
For the second year in a row, Penske’s Kurt Busch stormed Atlanta like Sherman, enduring NASCAR’s race-end gauntlet of two green-white-checkered attempts to win the 325-lap affair that stretched to 341 laps in “overtime” around the 1.5-mile tri-oval.
Most troubled by the constant tire erosion on the abrasive surface were the Hendrick Motorsports cars. Of the HMS fleet, Jimmie Johnson finished highest at 12th, with Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, and Mark Martin faring worse with their respective 15th-, 18th-, and 33rd-place finishes. Besides the strong-running Busch, Juan Pablo Montoya and Kasey Kahne also ran consistently at the front.
The race’s ending deteriorated with a spectacular crash with just two laps to go, when Carl Edwards chose to pay back Brad Keselowski for an earlier-race incident, in which Keselowski punted Edwards into Joey Logano on the outside lane on a restart. Both Edwards and Logano had to exit the track for lengthy repairs. Edwards, known to take no quarter, at the time of his wrecking of Keselowski was 152 laps down. Unfortunately, that incident brought to an end a terrific 25-lap stretch of green-flag racing that had fans on the edges of their seats, with Montoya reeling in Busch to within a half second in what was building to a nail-biter.
ROADSIDE RANTS AND RAVES: Only four races into the 2010 season and Goodyear just couldn’t stay out of the headlines. Of course, whenever you see Goodyear’s name in context with a NASCAR race it’s usually with a negative connotation for its product failure on the track the previous day. The tire giant even tested specifically at Atlanta Motor Speedway in the off-season, but yesterday you could almost see the old track laughing as it chewed up Goodyear’s best offering and spat it out like so much indigestible rubber…FOX’s Darrell Waltrip made a clairvoyant, you-gotta-be-kidding-me projection an instant before it happened Sunday, when he cautioned that David Ragan had better watch out for a cut tire after he had bumped the wall two laps before. A split-second later, almost on cue, Ragan cut a tire and barreled up the track into the wall…This week a news story circulated that Jimmie Johnson’s constant winning was becoming bad for the sport. Industry types surmised that possibly JJ’s winning ways were turning off droves of NASCAR fans. It was refreshing to hear one lone voice—Kyle Petty’s—say phooey to that. Petty believes dominance, if anything, spawns far more interest in racing. “Parity stinks,” he said with conviction. And I for one completely agree. NASCAR admits it has done everything in its power to level the playing field for all cars, yet huge gaps still exist between powerhouses and also-rans. It reminds me of the 1946-49 Cleveland Browns of the All-America Football Conference before that team became a member of the NFL. The Brownies dominated the AAFC all four years of its existence. Detractors screamed that Cleveland was killing the AAFC. In fact, maybe they did. The AAFC closed its doors at the end of the ’49 season, and the Browns took their show over to the big-league NFL in 1950—where they dominated that league for the next six years too!
Dynasties. The ’40s Browns, the ’90s Bulls. Now, JJ and the 48—the New York Yankees of NASCAR.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
Wrong pit call costs Gordon Vegas win
If he’d had Chad Knaus as his crew chief Sunday, Jeff Gordon would have had an all-time 15th career victory at a 1.5-mile track and likely would’ve popped some champagne corks in the City That Never Sleeps.
Reality for Gordon, sadly, is that Steve Letarte is his crew chief. The pit boss of the 24 car, ripping defeat from the jaws of victory, made the wrong call at the crucial point in the race, and the Shelby American, as the Sprint Cup race in Las Vegas was known this year, slipped through Gordon’s grasp, leaving opportunistic teammate Jimmie Johnson to register his second consecutive win of 2010. Ironically, it was Johnson who laid claim to the 15th career victory on a mile-and-a-half track; he had been previously tied with Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, and Richard Petty for that honor.
Gordon dominated the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, leading 218 of the 267-lap total, but the wrong call by Letarte, who opted for two tires instead of four during a green-flag pit stop with 37 laps to go, lost Gordon the chance for his first appearance in Victory Lane since the Texas race in May of last year. Pitting at the same time as Gordon, the 48 car went with a four-tire change, the only one of the five lead cars on pit row to do so. In the end it proved to be the winning edge. Gordon maintained a steady half-second lead on Johnson for more than half the remaining distance to the checkered flag, until with just 16 laps left, the difference in the four- vs. two-tire strategy played out for Johnson and Knaus. Gordon then lost second place to Kevin Harvick, the 2010 point standings leader, with four laps to go.
For the second race in a row, Harvick finished second to Johnson. The Richard Childress Racing stable has capably put up a serious challenge to the 48 car in the early going: All three RCR cars currently run in the Top Seven in the standings, with Harvick and Clint Bowyer running Nos. 1 and 2. Johnson stands fifth.
ROADSIDE RANT: Twice during the Shelby American at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sunday, malfunctioning electronic caution lights around the track created unnecessary cautions. The first time, on the restart following the second caution, on Lap 52, yellow lights continued to remain lit after the green flag was waved. Then on Lap 107, out of nowhere, the yellow lights tripped for no apparent reason 14 laps into what would have been a magnificent 135-lap stretch of green-flag racing. That’s two out of the first three races this season that have been halted for track malfunctions, the first being the infamous pothole incident at Daytona during NASCAR’s season opener and the series’ premier race of the year. With all its attendant problems that are contributing to flagging attendance both at the track and on television, NASCAR can ill afford elementary failures in its event production. Torn-up track surfaces and broken lighting circuits only sabotage its program further. When these incidents actually halt races, it sends a message that NASCAR isn’t properly maintaining its facilities, not spending the necessary money to make the track circuits first rate. It all factors into the big picture of why disgruntlement has begun to seep through some discernible cracks in the sport.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
Reality for Gordon, sadly, is that Steve Letarte is his crew chief. The pit boss of the 24 car, ripping defeat from the jaws of victory, made the wrong call at the crucial point in the race, and the Shelby American, as the Sprint Cup race in Las Vegas was known this year, slipped through Gordon’s grasp, leaving opportunistic teammate Jimmie Johnson to register his second consecutive win of 2010. Ironically, it was Johnson who laid claim to the 15th career victory on a mile-and-a-half track; he had been previously tied with Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, and Richard Petty for that honor.
Gordon dominated the race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, leading 218 of the 267-lap total, but the wrong call by Letarte, who opted for two tires instead of four during a green-flag pit stop with 37 laps to go, lost Gordon the chance for his first appearance in Victory Lane since the Texas race in May of last year. Pitting at the same time as Gordon, the 48 car went with a four-tire change, the only one of the five lead cars on pit row to do so. In the end it proved to be the winning edge. Gordon maintained a steady half-second lead on Johnson for more than half the remaining distance to the checkered flag, until with just 16 laps left, the difference in the four- vs. two-tire strategy played out for Johnson and Knaus. Gordon then lost second place to Kevin Harvick, the 2010 point standings leader, with four laps to go.
For the second race in a row, Harvick finished second to Johnson. The Richard Childress Racing stable has capably put up a serious challenge to the 48 car in the early going: All three RCR cars currently run in the Top Seven in the standings, with Harvick and Clint Bowyer running Nos. 1 and 2. Johnson stands fifth.
ROADSIDE RANT: Twice during the Shelby American at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Sunday, malfunctioning electronic caution lights around the track created unnecessary cautions. The first time, on the restart following the second caution, on Lap 52, yellow lights continued to remain lit after the green flag was waved. Then on Lap 107, out of nowhere, the yellow lights tripped for no apparent reason 14 laps into what would have been a magnificent 135-lap stretch of green-flag racing. That’s two out of the first three races this season that have been halted for track malfunctions, the first being the infamous pothole incident at Daytona during NASCAR’s season opener and the series’ premier race of the year. With all its attendant problems that are contributing to flagging attendance both at the track and on television, NASCAR can ill afford elementary failures in its event production. Torn-up track surfaces and broken lighting circuits only sabotage its program further. When these incidents actually halt races, it sends a message that NASCAR isn’t properly maintaining its facilities, not spending the necessary money to make the track circuits first rate. It all factors into the big picture of why disgruntlement has begun to seep through some discernible cracks in the sport.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
Johnson holds off Harvick for first 2010 win
With drama building on and off the track—black skies west of Auto Club Speedway threatened to halt the race through the last 100 miles—Jimmie Johnson held off a challenge and did what he does best when he smells the finish line: just win, baby.
Rain seemed to claw at the edges of the two-mile speedway in Fontana, Calif., but the elements had the decency not to interfere with a thrilling on-track battle between race leader Johnson and a fast-closing Kevin Harvick, who actually caught the defending four-time Sprint Cup champion with three laps to go. But in the blink of an eye the 29 car, coming off the troublesome Turn 4 exit, waffled slightly, kissing the outer wall just behind Johnson. While not damaged, the error took the stability from Harvick’s car, and he failed to regain the lost ground in the few laps remaining of the Auto Club 500.
NASCAR recorded a decent ending to a race that wasn’t the inevitable two-lap green-white-checkered dash that has come to characterize so many Sprint Cup finishes. While some fans think the two-lap shootouts constitute excitement, I’m of the belief there’s nothing like green-flag racing, and that’s what Auto Club 500 viewers got Sunday, with only six race interruptions from the yellow flag, two of those coming as a result of blown engines.
Johnson, showing that Lady Luck has not abandoned her favorite driver now officially launched toward his fifth straight driver’s title, caught the benefit of a major break late in the race. Just as the 48 car pulled onto pit road under green for its final stop, with 26 laps left, Brad Keselowski spun out in Turn 4, bringing out the yellow. Everybody else would have to pit under caution, which put Johnson into the lead when he reentered the track ahead of then-race leader Jeff Burton.
From that point on, it was a refreshing three-man race between Johnson, Harvick, and Burton…and no rain.
ROADSIDE RAVES: The most exciting action in Sunday’s Auto Club 500 took place in the pits, where Jamie McMurray’s right-rear tire-changer had to pull off a Rudolf Nureyev-like balletic move to avoid being flattened by Kevin Harvick exiting from his pit box immediately behind McMurray. The tire-changer appeared to reverse pivot from his station to try and grab an errant wheel heading Harvick’s way. Spotting the oncoming 29 car, the man leaped high in the air, landing indelicately on Harvick’s hood before bounding off it and back down to the track. Penalties for the incident were assessed to both McMurray as well as Harvick, the latter tagged unfairly.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
Rain seemed to claw at the edges of the two-mile speedway in Fontana, Calif., but the elements had the decency not to interfere with a thrilling on-track battle between race leader Johnson and a fast-closing Kevin Harvick, who actually caught the defending four-time Sprint Cup champion with three laps to go. But in the blink of an eye the 29 car, coming off the troublesome Turn 4 exit, waffled slightly, kissing the outer wall just behind Johnson. While not damaged, the error took the stability from Harvick’s car, and he failed to regain the lost ground in the few laps remaining of the Auto Club 500.
NASCAR recorded a decent ending to a race that wasn’t the inevitable two-lap green-white-checkered dash that has come to characterize so many Sprint Cup finishes. While some fans think the two-lap shootouts constitute excitement, I’m of the belief there’s nothing like green-flag racing, and that’s what Auto Club 500 viewers got Sunday, with only six race interruptions from the yellow flag, two of those coming as a result of blown engines.
Johnson, showing that Lady Luck has not abandoned her favorite driver now officially launched toward his fifth straight driver’s title, caught the benefit of a major break late in the race. Just as the 48 car pulled onto pit road under green for its final stop, with 26 laps left, Brad Keselowski spun out in Turn 4, bringing out the yellow. Everybody else would have to pit under caution, which put Johnson into the lead when he reentered the track ahead of then-race leader Jeff Burton.
From that point on, it was a refreshing three-man race between Johnson, Harvick, and Burton…and no rain.
ROADSIDE RAVES: The most exciting action in Sunday’s Auto Club 500 took place in the pits, where Jamie McMurray’s right-rear tire-changer had to pull off a Rudolf Nureyev-like balletic move to avoid being flattened by Kevin Harvick exiting from his pit box immediately behind McMurray. The tire-changer appeared to reverse pivot from his station to try and grab an errant wheel heading Harvick’s way. Spotting the oncoming 29 car, the man leaped high in the air, landing indelicately on Harvick’s hood before bounding off it and back down to the track. Penalties for the incident were assessed to both McMurray as well as Harvick, the latter tagged unfairly.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
Track repairs mar Daytona 500
Delays totaling two hours and 26 minutes killed the appetite of a nation full of race watchers Sunday. The Daytona 500 self-destructed in two separate red-flag stints in the last 78 laps of the storied American stock car race, when a section of pavement roughly 18 inches long and 8 inches wide came up in an area prior to Turn Two at famed Daytona International Speedway.
As almost an afterthought to the patience-testing stoppage, Jamie McMurray took the checkered flag. Of course, it required the Sprint Cuppers taking three shots at it to get the final two laps right, in an anti-climactic white-green-checkered ending which saw McMurray hold off crowd favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr., for his first Daytona 500 victory. Not far removed was the irony that Earnhardt Jr. lost to his former team, Dale Earnhardt Inc. (now operating under the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing banner), co-run by his stepmother. Still, his second-place finish was huge, the best showing for the 88 since Little E’s last victory, in 2008 at Michigan.
With 78 laps to go, the race was red-flagged for the first time to repair the troublesome pothole that appeared to chunk up from recent rains. With the delay, commentators announced an astonishing revelation: the track surface at Daytona had last been paved in 1978, 31 years ago! Now, I’m aware that racing surfaces take some time to settle satisfactorily, but 31 years is absurd. Can you imagine Yankee Stadium or Green Bay’s Lambeau Field going 31 years without a surface makeover? I don’t think Derek Jeter would be able to tell a bounding baseball coming at him from the pile of rocks that would invariably surround him under those circumstances.
Another element that uncomfortably arises around such incidents as Sunday’s l-o-o-o-n-g red flag stops is viewer anguish. Many observers, I’m sure, felt gratified that the Olympics were airing simultaneously over on NBC. With the race nearing the three-quarters point, people suddenly and involuntarily were subjected to an hour and 40-minute break in the action—this after being assured by NASCAR officials that the track repair was a sure 12-minute done deal at most. Yet another reason to never believe what NASCAR tells us. And then, 39 laps later, it happens again; this time for 46 minutes! It was an unfortunate development. The race had been full of excitement, with 18 different leaders up to the first red flag. That delicious nail-biting tension, which presents itself at approximately that point in every race, was just beginning to build.
ROADSIDE RANTS: NASCAR makes annual efforts to attempt to improve its sport, like the recent restrictor-plate adjustment and the withdrawal of race official interference with bump drafting that were instituted for 2010—both good improvements. But then it continually shoots itself in the foot, by slipping up on something like not repaving its No. 1 track in more than 30 years! For all the weightless boasts from within the sport crowing about the quality of NASCAR racing, events like the infamous chunk of missing pavement at Daytona provide significant and understandable fodder for critics. And right now, that’s a sin tax NASCAR can’t afford.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
As almost an afterthought to the patience-testing stoppage, Jamie McMurray took the checkered flag. Of course, it required the Sprint Cuppers taking three shots at it to get the final two laps right, in an anti-climactic white-green-checkered ending which saw McMurray hold off crowd favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr., for his first Daytona 500 victory. Not far removed was the irony that Earnhardt Jr. lost to his former team, Dale Earnhardt Inc. (now operating under the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing banner), co-run by his stepmother. Still, his second-place finish was huge, the best showing for the 88 since Little E’s last victory, in 2008 at Michigan.
With 78 laps to go, the race was red-flagged for the first time to repair the troublesome pothole that appeared to chunk up from recent rains. With the delay, commentators announced an astonishing revelation: the track surface at Daytona had last been paved in 1978, 31 years ago! Now, I’m aware that racing surfaces take some time to settle satisfactorily, but 31 years is absurd. Can you imagine Yankee Stadium or Green Bay’s Lambeau Field going 31 years without a surface makeover? I don’t think Derek Jeter would be able to tell a bounding baseball coming at him from the pile of rocks that would invariably surround him under those circumstances.
Another element that uncomfortably arises around such incidents as Sunday’s l-o-o-o-n-g red flag stops is viewer anguish. Many observers, I’m sure, felt gratified that the Olympics were airing simultaneously over on NBC. With the race nearing the three-quarters point, people suddenly and involuntarily were subjected to an hour and 40-minute break in the action—this after being assured by NASCAR officials that the track repair was a sure 12-minute done deal at most. Yet another reason to never believe what NASCAR tells us. And then, 39 laps later, it happens again; this time for 46 minutes! It was an unfortunate development. The race had been full of excitement, with 18 different leaders up to the first red flag. That delicious nail-biting tension, which presents itself at approximately that point in every race, was just beginning to build.
ROADSIDE RANTS: NASCAR makes annual efforts to attempt to improve its sport, like the recent restrictor-plate adjustment and the withdrawal of race official interference with bump drafting that were instituted for 2010—both good improvements. But then it continually shoots itself in the foot, by slipping up on something like not repaving its No. 1 track in more than 30 years! For all the weightless boasts from within the sport crowing about the quality of NASCAR racing, events like the infamous chunk of missing pavement at Daytona provide significant and understandable fodder for critics. And right now, that’s a sin tax NASCAR can’t afford.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
Possible 5th for JJ tops 2010 talk
With now several months to digest the enormity of Jimmie Johnson’s fourth straight Cup championship, an achievement of growing magnitude that threatens to enlarge, NASCAR and its Sprint Cup competition head toward The Great American Race this Sunday, a.k.a. the Daytona 500, NASCAR’s version of the Super Bowl. Ironically, the 2010 season opener falls one week following the true Super Bowl, which played out in another little coastal Florida hamlet not far south from the racing capital.
Over the off-season, little earth-shattering news occurred relative to changes in the sport, though an announcement was made to jettison the current rear wing assembly for a slightly less offensive spoiler on the back. With a test session scheduled for late March, the switch will come sometime during the regular season. Officials negatively cited the cosmetic look of the wing, an original component of the CoT, which seems odd since the wing actually made the stocks looks racier. Secondarily, NASCAR then cited a legitimately beneficial reason for making the change: to eliminate visual problems for drivers.
The best off-season deregulation by NASCAR is the elimination of bump-drafting restrictions at the two big tracks Daytona and Talladega, which hopefully will make two exciting races even better.
ROADSIDE RANTS AND RAVES: Some reader feedback over the winter indicates many of you are unhappy with the points system. NASCAR conducts its scoring like it is courting a nation of astrophysicists. Whoever heard of awarding something as fractional as 185 points to the winner, then divvying up the remainder in tiny downward increments so that the last-place finisher winds up earning 34 points! Only a fringe kindergarten dropout could devise such a system. And why would you award any points to a last-place finisher anyway! For a sane solution, NASCAR need look no further than to F1. Though they’re adjusting their point system for 2010, the previous F1 scoring system was the model of simplicity: 10 points to the winner, 8 points for the runner-up, 6 points for third place, followed by 5-4-3-2-1 for fourth through eighth place. No points for anyone finishing ninth or lower. Since NASCAR sets out more than twice the normal F1 field, with 43 cars challenging weekly, let the top 16 cars earn points via the same formula, starting with 25 points for the winner, 20 points for second, 15 for third, 13 for fourth place, then 12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 for fifth place through 16th. And with its Chase format, NASCAR really gets creative, starting off everyone in the 12-man field with 5,000 points. Five-thousand points! What in the heck does that mean? Why not go completely over the top and say everyone in the Chase field starts with a million points each. Oooh, that ought to impress everybody. NASCAR, start with simple math. Scoring shouldn’t require the use of a calculator…Saturday night’s Bud Shootout was fun to watch. As previously mentioned here, the sprints—with smaller fields—are action-packed from start to finish. NASCAR would do well to consider scheduling one or two sprints as points races to balance the endless string of 400- and 500-milers…Though tentative when drafting, Danica Patrick looked strong and sharp in her ARCA debut at Daytona, finishing sixth.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
Over the off-season, little earth-shattering news occurred relative to changes in the sport, though an announcement was made to jettison the current rear wing assembly for a slightly less offensive spoiler on the back. With a test session scheduled for late March, the switch will come sometime during the regular season. Officials negatively cited the cosmetic look of the wing, an original component of the CoT, which seems odd since the wing actually made the stocks looks racier. Secondarily, NASCAR then cited a legitimately beneficial reason for making the change: to eliminate visual problems for drivers.
The best off-season deregulation by NASCAR is the elimination of bump-drafting restrictions at the two big tracks Daytona and Talladega, which hopefully will make two exciting races even better.
ROADSIDE RANTS AND RAVES: Some reader feedback over the winter indicates many of you are unhappy with the points system. NASCAR conducts its scoring like it is courting a nation of astrophysicists. Whoever heard of awarding something as fractional as 185 points to the winner, then divvying up the remainder in tiny downward increments so that the last-place finisher winds up earning 34 points! Only a fringe kindergarten dropout could devise such a system. And why would you award any points to a last-place finisher anyway! For a sane solution, NASCAR need look no further than to F1. Though they’re adjusting their point system for 2010, the previous F1 scoring system was the model of simplicity: 10 points to the winner, 8 points for the runner-up, 6 points for third place, followed by 5-4-3-2-1 for fourth through eighth place. No points for anyone finishing ninth or lower. Since NASCAR sets out more than twice the normal F1 field, with 43 cars challenging weekly, let the top 16 cars earn points via the same formula, starting with 25 points for the winner, 20 points for second, 15 for third, 13 for fourth place, then 12-11-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 for fifth place through 16th. And with its Chase format, NASCAR really gets creative, starting off everyone in the 12-man field with 5,000 points. Five-thousand points! What in the heck does that mean? Why not go completely over the top and say everyone in the Chase field starts with a million points each. Oooh, that ought to impress everybody. NASCAR, start with simple math. Scoring shouldn’t require the use of a calculator…Saturday night’s Bud Shootout was fun to watch. As previously mentioned here, the sprints—with smaller fields—are action-packed from start to finish. NASCAR would do well to consider scheduling one or two sprints as points races to balance the endless string of 400- and 500-milers…Though tentative when drafting, Danica Patrick looked strong and sharp in her ARCA debut at Daytona, finishing sixth.
Alan Ross is the author of 32 books and a regular contributor to American Profile. E-mail: alanross_sports@yahoo.com
© Sportland 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
%201st,%20barney%20oldfield,%20louis%20chevrolet.jpg)
